Nice End to the Week Before...Weekend Snow...Again...Feb 28th

Our ridge of high pressure holds for one more day, bringing lots of sunshine and temps into the low teens this afternoon across much of the south coast

But it's weakening..by tonight winds will shift to come in from the east, helping to bring in a taste of Arctic air that is slowly pushing back west across much of BC - wind chills in the -35 range for the Peace region this am!

Temps for Vancouver will drop tonight as the easterlies kick in: down to -2 to -3 overnight with gusty winds

Meanwhile, a low pressure system off the coast will gradually spread clouds & moisture across the south coast. With dry air in place, the precip will likely hold off until Saturday late afternoon at which point it will likely start off as light snow for all levels

As you might expect, not a lot of confidence or agreement in the models at this point but it is looking more likely that the snow will pick up for Sunday - some indications Vancouver could see +5 cm through the day before changing to rain Sunday night into Monday

Elevation & location will once again play a huge role in who gets what but it will be a very interesting weekend to say the least!

And yes a good chance that this might fall as snow for the Heritage Classic Game.. as fellow Vancouver meteorologist @50ShadesofVan put it 'I don't always plan an outdoor hockey game in Vancouver, but when I do I look like a genius cc NHL'

"Calm before the winter"

As we round out February, I just took a quick look at the climate stats for the past month for YVR. As you might expect, it certainly was an interesting one!

After starting the month off with no rain for the first 10 days, YVR then saw 120 mm of rain and 23 cm of snow in the span of just 2 weeks

That puts our Feb rainfall at above our 100 mm average for the month, and our snow total well over the 6.3 cm February average! In case you were wondering, March averages for snow are about 2.2 cm for YVR so Sunday could be record-breaking.

For many though, the month will be remembered by overnight rain and sunny afternoons, HWY 5 avalanches & high avalanche danger warnings, and a 3-day snow storm.

Also of interest, Environment Canada has released new climate normals from 1981-2010. Previously most meteorologists were generally using 1971-2000 average to compare things like seasonal averages, but there has been a marked shift in the climate, even in the past 10 years. More data is always better!

Here's to another interesting month ahead..

California Flooding Rains: The Good & The Bad

The same plunging jet stream affecting the west coast of Canada is bringing a monster flow of moisture to drought-stricken California today

According to Washington Post meteorologists, Cali is experiencing its driest year on record and large parts will need well over 400 mm of rain to emerge from severe drought.

The storm hitting the coast tonight (round 2) is bringing some much-needed rain (+100 mm for some), but perhaps too much at once, as flash flooding, mud slides and mandatory evacuations for some ensue...pretty wild video out there of floating cars, time lapse river rises, mudslides etc

This storm may be the largest rain event in Southern California since March 2011 says the National Weather Service.

There is even a risk for waterspouts and weak tornadoes under these conditions tonight.

Although the rainfall through the weekend will help drought conditions, it will take much more rain to have a long-term impact on the current drought.

For anyone hoping for an early Spring in Canada - not happening. Wind chill across much of the county this morning were around below - 30

Almost all of the Prairies and part of Ontario are under a wind chill warning tonight for values getting below -50!!!

The arctic air is pushing west into BC and even Atlantic Canada is getting a taste of below seasonal temperatures

Some good stats we can talk use ie: Winnipeg has seen 74 days with the wind chill -30 or colder and 32 days with a wind chill of -40 or colder..Toronto has already see 12 days with temperatures below -18°C, last year we only had one

And just the news you were hoping for - there is no short-term end in sight. Seriously..A few ups and downs but cold arctic air will continue to stick around through the first week of March